Baked by Chitra...

Life's unexpected turn!

2012-04-03T11:25:00.001-07:00

Hi all! I know I've not been around since last August. And my hands are trembling while typing up this post today. A lot of unexpected events have taken place since last year and my mind has been all over the place. My dad at 65 yrs of age was diagnosed with one of the worst disease known to mankind, brain tumor and that too an aggressive high grade tumor, Glioblastoma Grade IV multiforme. After all the ups and downs and being in denial, we as a family had somehow come to accept this unfortunate event. After 11 months of struggle, my father passed away two months back. I can't imagine writing about this but it helps with the healing process. I miss him a lot but I know he's in a better place. Hopefully through this post I can also help raise a little awareness about this kind of brain tumor, which unfortunately has no cure and the little cure that is available - chemotherapy and radiation is of no help. Little has been done to cure this terrible disease inspite of the advancements in science. Through this I have also become a mother to an almost 3 month old girl who keeps me super busy. But I have had the time to bake and churn ice creams but I have somehow lost interest in taking pictures. I believe this blog was about me and my passion and everything has pretty much come to a standstill. I need to gather the courage to do that in the midst of this loss and an addition of a new member to our family and this post is to request my fellow bloggers for their guidance on returning back to blogging. That is what I need some motivation and help in getting back on the blogging scene.

Also, I will get some recipes together of homemade banana icecream and salted caramel icecream.

Raspberry ripple ice cream...

2011-07-25T10:08:00.000-07:00

I have fond memories of growing up eating raspberry ripple ice cream. The sweetness of the vanilla infused with the tartness of raspberries...ah! Heavenly! So to keep my memories alive, I had to make myself a quart of ripple ice cream. I know that's a lot, but with the heat wave that swept in for all of last week, this was a wonderful treat! Didn't take too many pictures of the ice cream, however, you'll see it in another post of mine soon. I used up the ice cream with another treat that I grew up eating - Swiss rolls! Watch out for that post...

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup whole milk (next I'm trying a low fat version)

2 tbsp vanilla extract or seeds from vanilla bean (I'm a little more generous with this and I added the latter, makes a lot of difference)
2/3 cup sugar

Directions:
Combine cream, milk, sugar and vanilla in a saucepan and heat until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Pour into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator overnight before making it in an ice cream maker.

Raspberry Sauce:

2 cups of fresh or frozen raspberries

2 tsp of Grand Marnier liqueur

1 tsp of vanilla

2 tbsp water

4 tbsp agave syrup

Combine water, berries and syrup in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat, stirring until the syrup melts and the mixture comes to a boil.

Lower heat slightly and continue to cook the sauce for about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally.
Stir in the 2 tablespoons of bourbon and vanilla and remove from heat.
Transfer to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator.

Now you can pull out the mixture for the ice cream and freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Once ready, put a layer of ice cream at the bottom and then swirl the raspberry sauce on top. Repeat this step till all of the ice cream has been transferred, leave a little bit of the syrup for later. Store in an air tight container and freeze for an additional 2 hours.

Triple berry cobbler

2011-07-13T08:06:00.000-07:00

I love berries, their tartness combined with a slight sweetness and the fact that they are loaded with vitamins and antioxidants. This pushed me to come up with a healthy cobbler recipe in spite of the fact that I am trying to stay away from the oven in this heat. You can either eat it cold or serve it hot with a nicely flavored vanilla bean ice cream. And it's healthy enough to be had for breakfast, for those with a sweet tooth! Apologize for the blurry pictures...

Triple berry cobbler
(adapted from Eating well)

Ingredients

2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup reduced-fat milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla bean split lengthwise or vanilla bean extract
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen triple berries (blueberries, raspberries and marionberries) (this can be replaced by any berry or fruit such as peach/plum)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add milk, sugar and vanilla; stir to combine.
Add oil to the batter and stir to combine. Pour the batter into the pan. Spoon the berries evenly over the batter.
I used a small terracotta pan, just liked the rustic feel of it. But any pan can be used in it's place. Place the pan in the oven and bake until the top of the cobbler is browned and the batter around the fruit is completely set, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Remove to a wire rack to cool for at least 15 minutes. Serve warm.

Farfalle with roasted eggplant in arugula basil pesto sauce

2011-07-01T08:52:00.000-07:00

Hola! Sorry about the long title of the post, but I have to share this wonderful easy to make pasta recipe.

Saute onions. Once cooked, add chopped chinese eggplant (sorry no pictures available) to it and cook it till it all caramelizes. Add salt and pepper to taste, nothing fancy. The key to this recipe is the pesto sauce that you'll find below.

Boil pasta according to directions (I don't follow them, I just throw pasta into boiling water with a pinch of salt and pepper and some olive oil). Drain once cooked.

Chop some arugula leaves and basil from my garden. You're always welcome here!

Make pesto sauce with arugula, basil, 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese, 4 pods of garlic, walnuts (this is not you're usual pesto sauce recipe, they use pine nuts instead). Give it a good pulse and see how wonderfully creamy and green it is. Love it, you can use this as a dip as well.

Tada, now mix the pasta with the onions and eggplant mixture. And then ad the pesto sauce to it, you'll realize that you don't need a lot. And garnish it with an arugula stem with flowers, not mandatory.

Cinnamon Spiced Churros

2011-06-03T06:04:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know I'm on a roll making Spanish/Mexican inspired cuisines. Actually, I'm on a roll posting recipes that I absolutely enjoyed on my travel so far! This time it's the famous churros (they literally roll they're R's)! These are absolutely delightful and we enjoyed them during our stay in Madrid, Spain. Although we had them with dark hot chocolate, it was heavenly to dip them in the chocolate. But yes, this time it's cinnamon spiced churros as I like to call them, but hold on I will be posting a recipe of chocolate con churros soon.

I promise I didn't know they had to be fried, from which I suffered a slight setback, but then I went ahead and made them. It's not like I have fried foods everyday. They were amazing and homemade (atleast you can trust the oil that you would be using for frying!!).

Here's the recipe:
(Inspired and adapted by a recipe from Mark Bittman)

Yield: Lots (I actually froze half the batter)
Time 30 minutes

Summary
If you use a broad pan, with about three inches of oil, you can fry all of this batter in one batch; but that\'s a lot of oil. Better to use a standard three- or four-quart pot and fry in batches. Once the strips are gloriously brown, turn them in a sugar-cinnamon mixture and serve hot. The preferred accompaniment is good hot chocolate -- and, yes, you dip.
Ingredients
·         Canola oil for frying (you can use any kind of oil, no not olive oil. Please!)
·         1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
·         1 teaspoon cinnamon
·         1/2 cup or 1 stick butter
·         1/4 teaspoon salt
·         1 cup all-purpose flour
·         3 eggs
Method
·         1. Add enough oil to a large saucepan or deep skillet to come to a depth of at least 2 inches; heat to about 350 degrees. Mix 1/2 cup sugar and the cinnamon together on a large plate.
·         2. Combine remaining sugar, butter, salt and 1 cup water in a saucepan over high heat, and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low, and add flour, all at once. Stir constantly until mixture forms a ball, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat, and beat eggs one at a time into mixture, stirring until smooth after each addition.
·         3. Spoon dough into a pastry bag with a large star tip (or simply drop spoons full of batter into oil). Press strips of dough about 4 inches long into hot oil. Cook as many as will fit comfortably at once, turning as they brown, 5 to 10 minutes each.
·         4. Remove churros from oil, and drain on paper towels, then immediately roll them in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Serve hot or warm.

Tortilla de Patatas (Spanish omelette)

2011-05-26T07:01:00.000-07:00

Tortilla de patatas (Potatoes omelette). We first tried this in a tapas bar in Granada, Spain. It was refreshing, I have to admit the potatoes really blended well with the eggs. And we had it as a sandwich with a nice refreshing tomato mayonnaise sauce. It was yummy and hence worth a try! Hope you all enjoy this easy recipe!

Ingredients:

Serves around 4 people

3 eggs mixed in with chicken/vegetable stock

1 large onion, finely chopped up

1 potato, either shred it into long pieces like what I did or into nice thin rounds (the latter is better)

Salt and pepper to taste

Cilantro for garnishing

Low fat mayonnaise and ketchup sauce for dipping

Saute the potatoes on low flame till it loses it's starchiness and starts to brown a little

Beat in eggs and chicken stock and to that, add salt and pepper

Add in the onions and cook till they brown slightly

Beat the eggs and stock mixture!

Let the tortilla cook on both sides just like a regular omelette. Fear not, it'll turn out fine and will be edible!

A few pictures from my vegetable and herb garden, something that has kept me busy the last couple of weeks and explains me missing out on the blogging.

See I got distracted a bit, these little babies of mine do make me forget everything else. Anyways, another picture of the tortilla de patatas garnished with fresh cilantro. Enjoy it for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

Cinco de Mayo celebrations at home!

2011-05-18T08:52:00.000-07:00

A little too delayed for this post, but I've been busy around the house and garden after work, that I'm trying to make time...excuses, excuses! Believe me, I'll post pictures of what I've been upto lately.

Back to the post:

As always, I have these craving for chipotle burrito bowl and often I don't need an excuse to eat one. However, it was Cinco de Mayo last thursday and I was looking forward to have my bowl. Fortunately, yes fortunately, I didn't have one because I decided to make everything at home and as they claim their food is 'healthy and organically grown'. I decided to say mine was 'homemade and healthy. I don't have the best pictures of the different pieces/items that go into the burrito bowl, but here's what the result looked like and it wasn't too bad. I guess it's bye bye chipotle for me from now onwards.

Guacamole

Fajitas

Home-made salsa

Corn

Chicken

Black beans (not refried)

Cilantro-line rice

Bowl 1

Bowl 2

Can't seem to fit it in a bowl, use a plate instead!

Sorry, no pictures of the strawberry mint iced tea that I served. The mint used was from my kitchen garden. Will post recipe of that soon!

Birthday cake for my bff!

2011-05-16T18:27:00.000-07:00

White cake with strawberry frosting. Hydrangea flowers decorations on top and adorned with edible pearls on the side!

Cheesecake recipe

2011-05-10T08:05:00.000-07:00

Yum!! I like certain kinds of cheesecake, especially the ones that have a nice caffeine kick to it. So to prepare for a get together, I decided to bake a nice cheesecake. I have no problems saying that I won't ever have to visit cheesecake factory to grab a bite of their cheesecakes. Like them a lot, but if a similar kind can be made at home, then why bother. Unless of course I'm busy and tied, because it took me a good half day in making the cheesecake. Nevertheless, it was a fun process indeed. A lot of research went into preparing the pan, the water bath and also understanding the science behind the process of baking cheesecakes. Yeah right, for the last one!! ;)

Here's the recipe for a yummy cheesecake:

For the crust:
1 9-ounce box of chocolate wafer cookies or Goya chocolate wafers
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted
For the filling:
1 1/2 cup whipping cream
1 teaspoon instant coffee powder
12 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs

Make crust: Preheat oven to 350°F. Wrap outside of 9-inch-diameter springform pan with 2 3/4-inch-high sides with double thickness of foil. Spray bottom of pan with vegetable oil spray. Finely grind wafer cookies in the processor. Add room temperature butter and process until blended. Press mixture onto bottom (not sides) of prepared pan. Refrigerate while preparing filling.

Make filling: Combine cream and coffee powder in medium saucepan. Stir over medium heat until coffee powder dissolves. Reduce heat to low. Add chocolate; whisk until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Cool 10 minutes.
Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until well blended. Beat in cornstarch. Add sour cream and vanilla; beat well. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Whisk 1 cup cheese mixture into chocolate mixture. Return chocolate mixture to remaining cheese mixture; whisk until smooth.
Pour batter into crust. Place springform pan in a large baking pan. Add enough hot water to baking pan, atleast reaching the mid-section of the springform pan. Bake cheesecake until softly set and slightly puffed around edges, about 1 hour. Turn off oven. Let cake stand in oven 45 minutes. Transfer springform pan to rack and cool. Cover; chill cake overnight.

Kalakand burfi (ricotta cheese sweet)

2011-05-10T08:03:00.000-07:00

This recipe is courtesy showmethecurry.com. I made my own variation - excluded the rose essence and included more chopped almonds and pistachios.

Time: 18 min
Prep Time: 5 min
Setting Time: 1 hr
Makes: 20 pcs (approx)

Ingredients:
Ricotta Cheese – 15 oz
Condensed Milk – 14 oz
Rose Water – 1/4 – 1/2 tsp (or 2-3 drops of Rose Essence)
Cardamom Powder – 1/4 tsp
Chopped Pistachios – 1/2 tbsp
Chopped almonds – 1/2 tbsp

Method:
1. In a microwave safe square or rectangle dish, mix the Ricotta Cheese and the Condensed Milk well.
2. Mash down all the lumps with a help of a whisk.
3. Cook in the microwave for 5 minutes uncovered.
4. Take out and mix well. Make sure that you loosen the edges.
5. Back in the microwave 3 more minutes, uncovered.
6. Take out and mix.
7. Microwave for 2 minutes, covered. Take out and mix.
8. Microwave for 2 minutes,cross covered, take out and mix.
9. Microwave for another 6 minutes, uncovered taking out and stirring every 2 minutes.
10.Once done, mix well.
11. Add in the Powdered Cardamom and Rose Syrup/Rose Essence and mix well again.
12. Press down and flatten the mixture.
13. Sprinkle chopped Pistachios and Almonds on top and press them down to help them stick.
14. Cover and allow to set either in the refrigerator for an hour or on the counter-top for a few hours.
15. Cut into desired shape and serve.

Chocolate Butterscotch walnut Brownie cookies...

2011-05-08T19:18:00.000-07:00

So how about combining brownies and cookies together? trust me it works and it works really work if you're craving for something chocolaty! Is that a word really??

In process...recipe to follow!!

You can handle a couple of tablespoons of Grand Marnier Liquor, right?

Brownies in action. Oops, I meant brownie cookies!

Tada, crunch of a cookie and chewiness of a brownie...

Lemon Meringue cookies for Spring~

2011-04-29T07:06:00.000-07:00

Ok I have to admit that I have been MIA for quite some time, which is not good! I think it's the good weather and I'm spending more time outdoors. But yes, I need to get back on track and what better way to make a comeback with some Lemon Meringue cookies. They are absolutely delicious, light and so beautiful! Yes, I said beautiful! Egg whites whipped up into something so pretty!! Another adjective.

Ingredients

3 large egg whites (I used frozen egg whites that were thawed in the fridge the night before)

pinch of salt

1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon lemon juice or extract

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper/foil and set aside. Preheat oven to 200 degrees F. Place the egg whites in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat egg whites, on medium speed, until foamy. Add the pinch of salt and increase speed to medium-high. Slowly begin to sprinkle in the sugar. Continue to beat eggs until they form stiff peaks. Now fold in the lemon zest and lemon extract.Fill it in a piping bag, fitted with a large star tip or any tip that you would like to use. Pipe a bite size worth of meringue onto the baking sheet. Stars can be close together, as they won’t spread or puff during baking. Bake meringues for 2 hours, until no longer sticky , but firm and hardened. The key here is to bake them at a low temperature and for a longer period of time. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on the baking sheet.

Lovely isn't it. Whaddya think?

Birthday cake~

2011-04-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

I was asked to bake a birthday cake for a friend at work. Some pictures of the cake from start to finish. I made a 3 layer yellow cake and filled it with fresh strawberries and whipped cream and then frosted the 3 cake layers with strawberry buttercream. It was nice so I heard...actually I've been asked to make some more in the future!

The famous labor inducing lemon drop cupcake!

2011-04-08T14:40:00.000-07:00

I couldn't believe this news article the other day that 19 overdue moms went int labor after having the same lemon drop cupcake from Cappellino's Crazy Cakes Shop in Charlottesville, Virginia. Now is this a conincidence or what? What do you think?

http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/offbeat/women-say-lemon-drop-cupcakes-helped-them-deliver-their-overdue-babies-040111

Baked by Chitra...: AAC (Asparagus, Avocado, Cucumber) Sushi roll...th...

2011-04-08T07:54:00.000-07:00

Baked by Chitra...: AAC (Asparagus, Avocado, Cucumber) Sushi roll...th...: "I LOVE sushi! The louve had me wanting to challenge myself and make some rolls at home. I have to admit that it was fun making them, but ti..."

AAC (Asparagus, Avocado, Cucumber) Sushi roll...that too homemade!

2011-04-06T19:05:00.000-07:00

I LOVE sushi! The louve had me wanting to challenge myself and make some rolls at home. I have to admit that it was fun making them, but time consuming. It's the nori sheets (seaweed) that can get a little difficult to work with once they retain moisture, but nevertheless the sushi was good and edible. Everyone enjoyed it!

Things needed: Nori sheets, a sushi paddle and mat, 5 asparagus spears, 1 avocado, 1 cucumber, plastic wrap, 1 cup sushi rice, wasabi sauce (easily available in any grocery store), soy sauce, chopsticks :)

Cover the bamboo mat with plastic wrap, obviously I didn't do such a great job

Spread the cooked rice. For each cup of rice to be cooked, add 1 cup plus 3 tsps of cold water. Cover tightly and let the rice cook at high for 2 minutes. Then reduce the heat to medium and cook for another 5 mins until it's not foamy anymore and you hear a crackling sound. Turn off the heat and let the rice steam. Once it's cooled a little, add 2 tsps of rice vinegar.

Boil around 6 asparagus spears. No worries, if there are any left overs. You can snack on them!

Slice and chop about 1 cucumber and 1 avocado.

Press down the nori sheet, just make sure that you keep the sheets wrapped when you're not using them. Not exposing them to humidity helps!

Spread the rice!! There were quite a few repetitions, but then again doesn't practice make perfect!

Spread the veggies in the center and you can add the spicy sriracha sauce for the kick!

My husband helping around!

Presenting the maki roll! Not bad!

And then the second sushi roll!! I prefer this one more!

Some miso soup!

Serve with soy sauce and wasabi! Enjoy!!

Tiramisu

2011-04-04T17:12:00.000-07:00

Holi, a festival of colors, is celebrated by Indians...for those who don't know. We had a holi party and I'm really late at posting this. Excited as I was to play with all the colors, I was even more excited to make Tiramisu again. A couple of pictures of the Tiramisu, I forgot to click the end result though...too busy eating some!!

Thumbprint cookies with raspberry preserves filling

2011-04-01T13:43:00.000-07:00

Yumm!! I love cookies with jam in the center. I think I've come to believe that I like chewy/gooey things such as caramel candies, milky way bars. Something that I can retain for a longer period of time in my mouth! Ok, would you like me to continue? No seriously, we can take this conversation offline if you insist.

On a serious note, these cookies tasted very similar to a kind that I've had in India. I just can't remember the name. These cookies turned a little more crisp than I thought, but I enjoyed them with a hot cup of tea.

Well done India!!

2011-03-30T16:53:00.000-07:00

Our celebration cake for India's victory and march into the finals. A lemon vanilla cake frosted with buttercream (frosted with a toothpick).

India...de ghuma ke, ghuma ke!!

Costa Rican Arroz con Pollo (Chicken with Rice)

2011-03-29T13:23:00.000-07:00

One of my fond memories of visiting Costa Rica was eating Arroz con Pollo for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Yes, I made sure I didn't miss out on my daily dose of this amazing dish! After being dissapointed with the way it tasted in a few restaurants in New York City and in Panama, I decided that enough is enough. I just cannot desperately be on a look out for restaurants that serve this dish. So much so that I've dragged my husband to some not so great joints just because they had this dish on their menu. Only to get dissapointed though! Here's my take on homemade Costa Rican Arroz con Pollo. I couldn't find the exact ingredients, so I had to play around with what I could get here. And to my surprise, it was a great dish and a nice change from the regular Indian chicken with rice. And instead of the regular french fries that I had on the side, I replaced it with sweet potato baked fries! I have to admit that the regular french fries are out for me and the sweet potato ones are in! Will post the recipe for that sometime soon. They are yummy, healthy, sweet and the way I made them were tangy and spicy as well. Lots of flavor packed into one fry.

Ingredients:

For the chicken part: 5 piece chicken drumsticks, 2 tablespoon vegetable oil, 4 cloves garlic, 3 celery sticks, salt, pepper, oregano, 1 tbsp annato seed, paprika to taste

For the Rice: 2 cup rice (any rice preferably long grain rice), 1 tbsp vegetable oil, 2 minced carrots, 1 teaspoon annatto seed, pinch of salt, 4.5 cups chicken stock

For the Sauce: 1/2 cup onions, finely chopped 1/2 cup red bell pepper, finely chopped 1 tomato, cilantro, 1 small can tomato paste, 4 tbsp goya sofrito, 6 tbsp salsa ranchera to taste

The Chicken: Heat vegetable oil in a saucepan over medium high. Add chicken, salt, pepper, garlic, oregano, cumin, and celery. Turning occasionally until chicken is golden brown evenly. Debone chicken. Skin chicken (optional.) The Rice Heat lard or vegetable oil in a medium heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add rice stirring often until rice is slightly brown. Add carrots, annatto, and salt. Add 1 ¼ quart water. Bring mix to a boil over medium high heat. Cover saucepan and simmer until rice is tender. Turn off heat and leave rice in saucepan covered for 10 minutes.

Mocha Cappuccino Marble cheesecake

2011-03-27T18:21:00.000-07:00

A picture of the creamy cheesecake! Didn't click too many this time around! The base was not the regular graham cracker crumbs but goya chocolate wafers crushed up. They are just readily available and they taste good!

Recipe to follow!

My first order for homemade truffles...anyone else interested?

2011-03-23T18:41:00.000-07:00

I'm proud about posting some pictures from my very first truffles order. I love the home made stickers that I stuck on the bag. Purchased those from Michaels.

The truffles were made of dark chocolate ganache and half of them were rolled in cocoa powder and the other half had sprinkles on them. They are quite yummy and they melt in your mouth. I will be trying different kinds in the future, with coconut coating, caramel and sea salt (my favorite combination that I've started liking recently), nuts coating and much more. Anyone interested, please reach out to me on my facebook page - Baked by Chitra.

Enjoy the pictures in the meantime!

Baked by Chitra...: Oscar night party!

2011-03-22T10:19:00.000-07:00

Baked by Chitra...: Oscar night party!: "Firstly, cheers for Javier Bardem. Wasn't he looking so handsome last night? Anyway, coming to the point...I've been wanting to have an O..."

Baked by Chitra...: Salted Caramel Ice cream at Marseille restaurant

2011-03-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

Baked by Chitra...: Salted Caramel Ice cream at Marseille restaurant: "Yes that's exactly what I remember enjoying the most at Marseille ( http://www.marseillenyc.com/ ) in NYC in addition to the Moro..."

Salted Caramel Ice cream at Marseille restaurant

2011-03-21T08:01:00.000-07:00

Yes that's exactly what I remember enjoying the most at Marseille ( http://www.marseillenyc.com/ ) in NYC in addition to the Moroccan Lamb.

I wouldn't say that I'm a big fan of French cuisine, but I have to admit the food here really made me rethink. Alright the STINKY CHEESE festival was on and the taste of this cheese has left a real bad taste in my mouth. I had it in Portugal. No offence to the stinky cheese lovers out there, some people really enjoy it!

Coming back to the point, the potato leek soup was good. Another appetizer that I tried was the Gorgonzola Rissoto, I was a little scared to try it out because by then I was slightly overwhelmed with the cheese smell from the adjoining table. Little mental, you see! Still wanting to give it a try and I enjoyed the appetizer. The cheese wasn't so over powering, but the dish was almost good enough to be an entree. Quite filling and yummy!

My MS Paint skills need some work!

What I really want to share with all of you is the Moroccan lamb, which was extremely tender and juicy and the oh so yummy dark chocolate tart with Salted Caramel Icecream. The tart was good but what blew me away was the ice cream that accompanied it. It was to die for. So much so that I have been inspired by this dish to come up with my very own creation of a salted caramel cake/cupcake recipe. Yum.